Co-amoxicillin–induced reactivation of auto-brewery syndrome in a patient treated for community acquired pneumonia: a clinical case report
Philipp Widmer, Flavia A Miesch, Barbara Scotti, Gian Erni, Roland Sperb · 2026
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Description
Philipp Widmer and four colleagues report a man in his mid-forties whose gut briefly turned him into an unwitting brewer. Auto-brewery syndrome, in which gut microbes ferment carbohydrates into ethanol, had come back. It returned after he took a common antibiotic pairing for pneumonia caught outside hospital. His symptoms looked like drunkenness despite no alcohol intake.
Drugs aimed at the microbes, cutting carbohydrates, and probiotics brought improvement. The case stands out because the antibiotic given for a common infection woke the rare syndrome again, likely by changing his gut flora. The authors stress how easily this microbial state is missed. Patients show up drunk for no clear reason and are often not believed.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Philipp Widmer, Flavia A Miesch, Barbara Scotti, Gian Erni, Roland Sperb |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 10 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |